AN: Hey guys. My birthday was yesterday. And do you know what would be a great present? If someone, anyone, would review. Just once. please?
CHAPTER NINE
The Wild Knight and Hannah Marie's Secret
"Maia, wake up." Hatter's voice invaded Maia's colorful dream. In her dream she had been running through the Whispering Willows. She was chasing Jackson, who was very fast for a kitten. She felt like something was wrong, but couldn't figure it out.
"It has fangs!" Jackson yelled back at her. They reached a clearing and Maia was immediately drawn to a snow white rabbit. "Careful! It has fangs!"
"Curiouser and curiouser." Maia said and walked closer to the rabbit. "A rabbit cannot have fangs; it's an herbivore after all."
"Maia!"
"And if he does have fangs, he's too small to do any harm to me." There was a ticking noise.
"It has fangs!" Jackson warned again.
"It's just a bunny, it can't do much." The ticking got louder. The rabbit smiled when Maia was only a few feet away. It had large fangs, too big for its soft white head. "What big teeth you have." The ticking was loud now, ringing in her ears. She couldn't even heart her heartbeat over the ticking, but she knew it must be loud.
"It's never a good thing when you can't hear your own heart…" Jackson sighed.
The rabbit lunged.
"Maia! Wake up!" Maia's eyes flew open and she let out a gasp. "Are you alright?"
"Just a nightmare." Maia's hands were clutching Hatter's arms.
"They why can't I feel my arm?" Maia let go hastily.
"Sorry." She sat up.
"It's okay." He pulled her into a hug. "What was it about?"
"I can't fully remember." Maia sighed. "I do remember…that Cheshire's are supposed to smile, not rabbits."
"And I thought I was the mad one?" Hatter teased. "Come, there's still enough day light left. If we hurry we can get back to Baroque with enough time to… see it." Maia was immediately up and grabbing her shoes. She had been waiting for Hatter, who had called her about 30 minutes ago to say he was close to the house. And it seems she fell asleep on her bed while waiting.
"What is it?" Maia asked and followed him out of the room, and down the stairs.
"You'll just have to see for yourself." She could only see his back, but she was sure that his face held a devious smirk. When they got outside and walked up to the Knight, Maia frowned. "What's wrong? Illion is a great Knight."
"These things are almost like riding roller coasters." She hesitated as she walked up to Illion. "Do we have to ride it super fast?"
"If you want to get there within the next two hours…"
"Alright." Maia sighed. "Will you help me up?" Hatter's grin widened and he grabbed her by the waist. "Hatter!" She screeched as he quickly swung her up on the Knight. Hatter lifted and swung himself up behind her and wrapped his arms around her to take the reins with a chuckle.
"Maddion." He whispered in her ear. "I'd hate to have to keep reminding you."
"You're incorrigible."
"Really? Ion said you thought I was a fine specimen of man." Maia reminded herself not to elbow Hatter. He was driving this beast after all. (Once they got down though was another question entirely).
"Lebanna Austel." Maia gasped as she read the sign in front of the house. The house was a small cottage on the outskirts of Baroque, a few blocks from the surrounding wall.
"A few weeks ago, you mentioned that the name of your family's estate, the one you now own, was known as the Austel Plantation." Hatter tied the Knight's reins to the strong white fence that surrounded the house. "I then remembered that I had met a woman close to 85 years ago. She introduced herself as Anna Austel. And she had beautiful hazel eyes, like yours." Hatter opened the fence for her. "I did some searching and found out that she's been missing for about 4 months now."
"You mean… She's been missing since Annabel died." Maia held her breath for a few minutes. "What if we're wrong?"
"I wouldn't have brought you here if unless I was sure I was right." Hatter held out his hand. "It's okay Maia." She placed his hand into his and he gently led her up to the front door. "I got this from her neighbor." He held out a key.
"How did you-"
"I told her the truth; that her niece had been looking for her for a few months and just found out about this place." Hatter placed the key in her free hand. "Go ahead." Maia slipped the key into the lock and turned it. The clicks of the lock seemed creepy to Maia but she pushed the door open anyways. She took another deep breath, let go of Hatter's hand, and entered the house.
It was exactly as Maia expected. Blue had been Annabell's favorite color, and it was overused everywhere. Annabell had good sense when it came to interior design, but in her own private place she didn't care. The front door led into a foyer and stairwell, done in light and dark blues. The living room was very much the same colors, but with white furniture. The whole house, that Maia roamed slowly, was blue and white.
Everything was just like Annabell, but to Maia, it still could have been anyone's house. There were knick knacks and decorative items, but no personal items. At least, there weren't any until Maia reached the master bedroom (only one of two rooms in the house). It was done much like her room at Maia's house, except there were pictures covering the wall. There was everything from sepia pictures of her parents and family long since passed, to pictures of Franny and MarieAnne's children. Maia found her picture on Annabell's night stand.
The picture was from Maia's high school graduation. Annabell was in the picture next to her, a large smile on her face. Annabell was shorter than Maia due to age and her hair had turned white before Maia knew her, but she had the same hazel eyes as Maia. "Maia?"
Maia looked up at Hatter and sat on the bed, the picture frame in her hands. "This was the day she gave me money for college. She saved up for years, she even had a part time job for a while at a post office. All to pay for me to get an education." Hatter didn't say anything, but just sat down next to her. "She didn't get to go to school. It wasn't something that was proper for a southern woman in her generation. But she knew how important it was for me to further my education."
Maia ran her fingers over the picture. Something wet fell on it. She wiped it off, but another one took its place. Hatter put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. "I'm sorry I keep crying on you." She sniffled.
"It's ok." He whispered. "I rather like holding you. Although I wish it was for a happier reason."
"How c-can I not be happy?" Maia hiccupped as she tried to talk through her tears. "I finally found out about her in Wonderland. You found where she lived for crying out loud. I-I am h-happy."
"You miss her. It's okay to miss her." Hatter sighed and pulled her closer. He laid back and pulled them both onto the bed. "It's dusty, but it's comfortable." He said, mentioning the bed.
"If you tell me to sleep, like last time, I will hit you."
"If you don't want to sleep, I have a few ideas that can keep you up."
"You are turning into a pervy old bastard."
"What's a bastard?"
"You know, my insults can't work as well if you don't know what I'm saying." Maia was quite after that. They were lying on their backs and she was using Hatter's arm as a pillow. He was using his free hand to gently move his fingers against the back of her hand that was lying on her stomach. She had lain with him like this before but she couldn't push it to the back of her mind anymore. She knew something had changed. They had crossed a line, and no matter how small it was, it changed something between them. So she decided to cross another line. "H-… Maddion, how old are you?" He immediately stiffened (and not the way all you dirty minded people think).
He was quite and Maia knew he was thinking hard. "Honestly? I lost count after the Diamond Wars."
"Where's your clock?" he sighed at her next question. His hand left her hand and she could tell from his next sigh that he was pushing his hand through his hair. He always had a more relaxed sigh when he did so. "Well?"
"You've wanted to ask this for a long time haven't you?" Maia nodded. "It's a long story, but the jest of it is it broke many years ago."
"Before the Diamond Wars?"
"Yes." Maia knew she wasn't going to get more out of him. And it would be wrong to ask more from him. She sighed inwardly and knew that she shouldn't push; he would tell her if he wanted her to know. It was amazing enough that he told her this much. "Will you tell me about meeting Annabell?"
"Sure." And so he talked in great detail of that night he met her at the annual Queen's ball (a story that you will have to wait a long time to hear I'm afraid). After a bit of prompting, he then told her fanatical stories about those she had met, and those she hadn't. Most of them had her crying in laughter for how crazy they were. And that's how they spent the night. In the early hours of the morning they fell asleep, wrapped around each other.
In the late morning, they searched the kitchen for food, to no avail. It was a useless hope, since no one had been here in 4 months, but they decided trying wouldn't hurt. Sadly it did. Whatever was left in there had grown. Hatter had slammed the door shut quickly and pressed his back against it. It was comical to see because his eyes were wide and his lip was pursed but there was a child like fear in his eyes. He had then warned her to never open it because there was a monster in there.
"Are you serious?"
"Completely." Hatter pushed against the door, making sure it was closed tightly. "It'll be fine when it's closed. We'll get a mempster on our way back to the Inn."
"Mempster?"
"It'll get rid of the monster. It's a mempster's job to rid houses of monsters."
"So this monster is like, a bug?" The look Hatter gave her told her otherwise. "Oh. Well if I know Annabell, she'll have a garden in the back yard." And she did. But along with the overgrown garden there was a small stable with a docile looking gray Knight.
"Ah, the Wild Knight." Hatter went over and pet the Knight's nose.
"The Wild Knight?"
"There was a Knight that would roam the Chorus Forest the past 40 years. Everyone thought it was just a stray Knight. And no one could catch it. But it seems it was Annabell's." Hatter motioned to the open stall door. "And it comes and goes as it pleases."
"Then how did she use him?"
"When she exited her mirror, she probably had a calling whistle tuned just for her ears." Hatter went over to the garden. He searched for a few minutes and reached down. He tugged and soon pulled a large carrot out of the ground. He brushed it off the best he could and held it up to the Knight. "I'm curious as to your name, beautiful mare."
"Sweets." Maia smiled and the Knight's ears picked up at the name. "She always named her horses that." Hatter held the carrot out and the Knight munched on it happily. "Can we take her with us?"
"If you wish." Hatter shrugged. "I'm sure the saddle should be around here somewhere. Why don't you look for a few tasty snacks and I'll saddle her up?"
"Sure." And soon they set to work. The only edible thing Maia could find in the garden where the large carrots. She grabbed two and went back inside to wash them. When she came out, Sweets was saddled up and Hatter helped her up. He lead Sweet's around the side of the house and was soon on his own Knight.
They let the Knights walk through the town at their own pace. Maia enjoyed the view of the town and trusted that Sweets knew where to go. It was almost 15 minutes later when Maia reached out and grabbed Hatter, who was riding next to her. "Maia?"
"That woman, there." She pointed far into the crowd at a gray haired woman dressed in bright yellow. She was walking away from them, through the busy streets. "The one in the yellow."
"I think… yes…" Hatter's eyes narrowed as they followed the woman through the crowd. "Ellis Bell. That's Ellis Bell."
"Do you know everyone in Wonderland?" she mumbled and looked at him in the corner of the eye.
"I'm sure there is a child being born this very moment I have yet to meet." Hatter smirked. "Do you know her?"
"I think I do…" Maia searched, but the woman was gone.
"Aunt Maia!" Camellia ran across the restaurant to throw herself at Maia. "I thought you were supposed to be back last night."
"We got delayed." Hatter patted Camellia on the head as he walked by them to the table.
"How's mommy?" Camellia asked and they started walking towards the table where everyone was eating lunch.
"Good."Maia sighed. "Why were you running?"
"Running?" she asked innocently.
"Yes. Running."
"I don't know what you're talking about Aunty Maia." Maia narrowed her eyes at her niece then looked at Hatter.
"What are you teaching her?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Maia." Hatter's eyes were wide and innocent.
'Too innocent…' Maia thought to herself and sat down at the table.
"Is everything good back home?" Deedle asked. "Hatter said there was a problem with your house."
"Yes." Maia smiled. "How was Camellia while I was gone?" Camellia and Dumini rattled on about the few days Maia was gone, but she barely heard any of it. For the first time since she had entered Wonderland, her mind wasn't there. It was back home.
A few weeks later Maia found herself in front of Hannah Marie's door. Hannah Marie's house was almost as old as Maia's house. According to a few old plantation ledgers, Maia's family helped build the house and the two family's had been friends ever since. The house was a smaller than Maia's but it matched it as if they were sisters.
"Maia!" Hannah Marie smiled when she opened the door. "What a wonderful surprise! Please come in, I was about to sit down for lunch, would you like to join me?"
"I have something to ask you…" Maia entered the house carefully. "It won't take long…"
"Nonsense, you're staying for lunch." Hannah Marie's mouth was in a sweet winkled smile. Maia studied her while she led them into the kitchen and started to prepare lunch. Maia didn't know why, but she felt a little betrayed by Hannah Marie. If Hannah had known about Annabell and Wonderland, why didn't she say anything? "What did you want to ask dear?"
"Do you recognize this?" Maia pulled the piece of fabric out of her purse. It was a small version of the Spade's Domain flag. It was fancy, with a black spade seated in swirls. Hannah Marie paused when her eyes fell on it and Maia heard her breath catch.
"Maia-"
"Please don't lie to me Hannah Marie." Maia smiled. "I just want to know if you recognize it." Hannah sat down, wiping her hands on a wash cloth. Maia already had her answer, but she wanted to hear it.
"Did you find a mirror or a rabbit hole?"
"I have a mirror. Rabbit holes were all filled after Alice." Maia watched as Hannah Marie ran her fingers lovingly over the flag. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know for certain if you knew or not." Hannah Marie sighed. "And I only had suspicions that Annabell knew about Wonderland. I think we were both to afraid to ask each other. How did you know it was me?"
"Ellis Bell is the author of Wuthering Heights, your favorite book. Why were you scared?"
"I don't know about Annabell, but I didn't want to lose my mirror. It was given to me by my sister." Maia's eyes widened.
"I didn't know you had a sister."
"No one talks about it. They think she was kidnapped. Her case still hasn't been solved, at least not by this world." Hannah gave a secret smile. "But my sister, SallyMae, ran away."
"To Wonderland." Maia smiled. "Why?"
"She fell in love." Hannah shrugged. "But before she left she showed me how to get to the mirror." Hannah didn't tell where the mirror was and Maia respected that because she wasn't saying where her mirror was either. "She lives in Baroque with her husband. She has 5 children and 6 grandchildren with another on the way."
"Does she need a clock?"
"Her husband got one for her somehow. I never asked." Hannah shrugged. "We didn't know what would happen if she didn't have one, they made sure she had one. I still don't understand how it works."
"I don't understand how half the things in Wonderland work." Maia shook her head. "It's impossible getting answers from Maddion or Kat."
"Maddion?"
"Oh yea, that's the Mad Hatter's first name." Maia explained. "And Kat is-"
"The Cheshire cat. How did you become friends with them?" Hannah was amazed as Maia shared the story. "How amazing. Hatter is famous and legendary in the Spades Domain."
"Why is he so famous?" Maia was disappointed when Hannah said she didn't know. She was hopeful that she would finally learn more about Hatter.
"I'll ask my brother in law for you. You will have to join us for dinner once and meet my Wonderland family." Hannah took her hand. "I'm so glad I can finally talk to someone about this."
"Me too." Maia agreed. "Now, what's for lunch?"
"Ion, it's time for you to go home." Maia's hands were on her hips as she started at the Cheshire. He hadn't left the house for a week, reading everything he could get his hands on and watching TV almost religiously.
"What?" His eyes widened. "But there are still all those books in the library!" Maia sighed. If he thought that their small library was big, she didn't want to show him the University library (which was the closest library).
"You have books in Wonderland."
"Yea but there's science here! And people answer questions!" Ion would have continued if Maia hadn't held up her hand.
"You can borrow the books whenever you want." Maia sighed. "As long as Hatter lets you in his house, you are more than welcome in mine. But be careful because your coming through my bedroom."
"Thank ya Maia!" Ion jumped up and pulled Maia into a hug. "Can you help me carry some of them back to Hatta's? I have to get Jackson." After a few minutes, Ion and Maia had everything he needed and they walked up the passageway and into Hatter's house.
"Do you have enough books?" Hatter asked when they ran into him on the stairs. Maia had at least ten books in her hands. "And what is that?" He pointed to Jackson.
"Ion is borrowing these. Can we put them in your office?" Hatter nodded. "And that is Jackson. He's a cat."
"Would you like to hold him?" Ion asked and held the kitten out.
"No." Hatter sneered at the cat. "Is it house trained?"
"Not yet, but we're working on it." Ion's tail was curled in happiness. "And it won't matter at the Cheshire camp."
"Does your mom know?" Ion's ears fell back a little bit. "I thought so. Good luck." Hatter took some of the books Maia was carrying and the ones Ion was carrying. "Come on Maia, something came by post for you while you were gone." Maia followed Hatter down the stairs and into the office. They put the books on a side table and Hatter sat down in his large orange office chair. Maia sat in a chair on the opposite side of the desk that wasn't nearly as obscene as his. "Here." He reached across the desk and handed her a thick sealed envelope. "I didn't open it but I have an idea of what it is."
Maia ran her finger over the wax seal. It was a deep red wax and the insignia had a crown on it. Maia didn't recognize it but slid her finger between the papers and broke the seal. When she opened it she found beautiful curvy cursive ink sprawled across the page. "To Maia Hardesy, via the Mad Hatter's home, Bumbler Corner, Wonderopolis…" She read out loud. "You are sparklingly invited to the Queen's Ball…." Maia read it to herself after that. It didn't say much, just that she was invited and expected to dress accordingly. "A ball?"
"Yes. It happens every year. All the Queen's in the land gather together and have a peaceful ball. All magic falls away at the door and everyone is equal. It's a masque." Hatter's eyes were dark. "Dosovo delivered that. He says he'll be watching for you."
"When is it?"
"You want to go?" Hatter asked.
"Why not?" Maia asked.
"Dosovo will be waiting for you. It isn't safe." Maia scoffed at his answer.
"You keep telling me that this isn't safe and that isn't safe. So far…" Maia took a deep breath. "So far this world is much safer than mine." There, she said it out loud. It wasn't exactly what she had been thinking, but it was close. Wonderland seemed better than her world.
"I will agree I like my world much better." His eyes hardened. "But Dosovo is something dangerous. He is not someone to be taken lightly. I've seen him…" Hatter paused. "I've seen him execute whole families."
"I'm not saying I trust the man," (rabbit I'd like to point out). "But everyone in Wonderland is going. And I'm expected to attend." She tossed the letter onto the desk. "Give me a better reason that I shouldn't go?"
"Because…" Hatter stood up and his height was imposing for the first time in months. "This isn't your world. You are only a visitor." He walked around the desk and stalked out of the room.
"I am only a visitor…" She whispered to herself as she mulled over his words. "Only a visitor…"
